Propeller mounting and steering mechanism



June 7, 1967 R. s. HUMPHREYS PROPELLER MOUNTING AND STEERING MECHANISM 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 5, 1965 El. l

INVENTOR RICHARD S. HUMPHREYS BY ,yplw

ATTORNEY June 1967 R. s. HUMPHREYS PROPELLER MOUNTING AND STEERING MECHANISM 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 1965 INVENTOR RICHARD S. HUMPHREYS ATTORNEY June 96 R. s. HUMPHREYS PROPELLER MOUNTING AND STEERING MECHANISM Filed Sept.

4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR RICHARD S. HUMPHREYS ATTORNEY June 27, 1967 R. s. HUMPHREYS 3,327,675

PROPELLER MOUNTING AND STEERING MECHANISM Filed Sept. 5, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 S RBOARD FORQARD QUARTER PORT FORWARD QUA RTE R BA I 33 STARBOAR PORT STERN o QUARTER 23 STERN QUARTER A5 7.2- g. Z5

STERN WATER T FLOW FORWARD LINE OF THRUST c A o INVENTOR RICHARD S. HUMPHREYS ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,327,675 PROPELLER MGUNTING AND STEERING MECHANISM Richard S. Humphreys, 107 N. Ferry Ave., Fort Walton Beach, Fla. 32548 Filed Sept. 3, 1965, Ser. No. 485,033 Claims. (Cl. 115-35) ABSTRACT (PF THE DISKILOSURE A marine propelling and steering unit which extends through a hole in a boat bottom and which enables placement of an inboard engine at various angles to provide flexibility of boat design, including an inboard housing which is connected to the boat bottom and rotatably supports a hollow vertical steering cylinder to which is connected the propeller, the propeller drive shaft means extending through the cylinder and steering means adjustably connected to the cylinder for optimum placement when the inboard housing is mounted at various angular positions.

This invention relates to a marine propelling and steering unit for use on inboard engine boats of new construction and for use as conversion units for converting present inboard engine boats to the design of the instant invention.

The trend in todays boat design is to provide, if possible, various usable space arrangements in accordance with the many different needs of boat owners which range from fishing to entertaining to water skiing and the like. In each instance, there is an optimum space layout depending upon the particular sport or activity involved. One of the main problems facing todays boat builder is the fixed space requirements of the engine or engines and associated transmissions and shafts, these units making up the inboard engine means. There are a number of different drives in use today; however, each requires the in-line placement of the engine whereby the center line of the engine is parallel to or along the center line of the boat. One patent showing an arrangement different from this general arrangement in use today is Patent No. 2,378,- 589 of 1945 wherein a plurality of engines are readily mounted around a single vertical shaft to provide for variation in power.

The instant invention overcomes the in-line restrictive requirement by providing a marine propelling and steering unit which may be aligned with an engine laced at various angles in a boat. For example, if desired, the engine can have its driving end facing toward the port forward quarter, thereby placing the engine in the stern on the starboard side. Counter-balancing this engine weight, of course, would be fuel and water tanks or counterweights. The net result would be to provide an open port stern quarter of the boat for the construction of fishing facilities, entertainment facilities, and the like. As will be understood, the engine means can be placed at various positions about a hole in the bottom of the boat throughout a 360 degree range.

My invention provides an inboard housing which may be mounted around the hole in any of the desired angular positions, with the housing having a conduit alignable with the driving shaft of the engine means. More particularly, the unit includes a propeller assembly which extends upwardly through the housing and is rotatably supported therein so that the boat may be steered through the use of the propeller, thereby eliminating the rudder. Preferably, the steering is accomplished through a steering means which includes a steering adjusting means thereby enabling the adjustable connection of the steering means to a steering cylinder of the propeller assembly so that the steering means may be adjustably positioned into conformity with the angular attitude of the engine with respect to the boat so that the steering means may be mounted in a constant angular relationship with the housing.

These and further objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon reference to the following specification, appended claims and drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a boat with a portion broken away to show the propelling and steering unit mounted in an in-line position with the engine;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the unit extending through a hole in the bottom of the boat;

FIG. 3 is a central vertical cross section of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view taken on line 55 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view taken on line 66 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a cross sectional View taken on line 77 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is an exploded side view showing the method of assembly of the major parts with the propeller assembly somewhat below its final seated position;

FIG. 9 is an end view of a wedge mounting means for the engine to enable horizontal mounting thereof;

FIG. 10 is a vertical cross section through one of the mounting means;

FIG. 11 is a schematic View indicating various locations of the engine means and the propelling and steering unit; and

FIG. 12 is a vector diagram indicating the effect of the adjustable trim tab which is mounted on the propeller assembly for counteracting the thrust of the propeller.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 to 8, it will be seen that the boat 14 has mounted therein an engine means 15 coupled through coupling means 16 to the marine propelling and steering unit 17 which extends through a hole 18 in the bottom of the boat and is attached at its bottom to a strut or debris deflector 19 which extends upwardly and forwardly and is attached to the boat bottom.

The unit 17 includes an inboard housing 20 which has bottom annular attaching means 21 which is connected in water sealing condition around the hole in the boat bottom. At the upper portion of the housing there is a substantially horizontally extending conduit 22 through'which the driven shaft 23 of the unit 17 extends for flanged connection to coupling means 16, shaft 23 being part of propeller drive shaft means 24, the latter including the top horizontal shaft 23, the intermediate vertical shaft 25 and the bottom propeller shaft 26, each shaft being suitably rotatably mounted in bearings 27 in the housing and bearings 28 in the propeller assembly 30.

The propeller assembly 30 has a hollow steering cylinder 32 which extends from a position immediately below the conduit 22 downwardly through the hole 18 and has a propeller 33 at its lower end. It will be noted that in the embodiment shown, the cylinder 32 is made up of a tube 35 joined to an outboard housing 37 by means of a press fit, the tube 35 being downwardly inserted until seated against the ledge 38 of the outboard housing 37. While the tube 35 and outboard housing are effectively integrated into a steering cylinder 32 by a simple press fit, suitable keying and/ or Welding connections could be used; also the bottom of tube 35 could be hexagonal for seating in a hexagonal socket at ledge 38 and then the parts welded at the top of outboard housing 37.

The propeller assembly 30 is rotatably mounted in the inboard housing 20 by means of a bearing means 4% ineluding a bearing flange 41 threaded to the upper portion or top end of the cylinder 32, this annular bearing flange 41 being housed in an annular groove 42 in the housing 20 which provides top and bottom horizontal surfaces 43 and 44 respectively for preventing relative vertical movement between the housing 20 and the propeller assembly 30.

Steering means 50 for rotating the propeller assembly 30 are provided through connection with the cylinder 32. In the embodiment shown, the steering means 50 includes an external arm 51 which passes through a slot 52 in the housing 20' and terminates in an internal steering ring 53 which is mounted on the cylinder 32 and keyed thereto by key 54 in one of the peripherally arranged key slots 55, the ring 53 being seated in a recess 56 in the housing below the bearing groove 42.

The bottom annular attaching means 21 of the housing 20 includes bottom flanges 57 and 58 having bolt holes 59 therethrc-ugh aligned for mating with bolt holes 60 in an outboard annular ring 61, the bolts passing through bolts holes 62 in the board bottom.

It will be noted in FIGS. 4, 5, 7 and 8 that the inboard housing 20 is made up of the following three shell sections which are bolted together: a main shell section 65 with the conduit 22 at its upper portion and a substantially vertical inverted U-shaped flange 66 defining its side opening and a semi-circular bottom flange 57 defining its bottom opening; a top shell section 70 having an inverted mating U-shaped flange 71 defining its side opening and an open bottom which defines the top of the steering means slot 52; and a bottom shell section '75 vertically spaced from the top shell section 70 to form the bottom of the slot 52 and having mating side flanges 76 and an open bottom with a semi-circular bottom flange 58. The complementary peripheral bottom flanges 57 and 58 each extend at one end beyond their respective vertical flanges and terminate at the other end inwardly of their respective vertical flanges to provide an interlocking engagement and further to provide a strong unsplit flange section having a bolt hole immediately below the vertical flanges 66 and 76.

As seen in FIG. 8, the installation of the unit involves the provision of a hole 18 in the boat bottom along with associated peripherally arranged bolt holes 62, the placement of the outboard annular ring 61 over the top of the steering cylinder 32, the insertion of the cylinder upwardly through the hole, the placement of key 54 in the desired key slot 55, the mounting of the internal steering ring 53 around the cylinder and the threaded attachment of the bearing flange 41 to the top of the cylinder followed by the horizontal sliding of the main shell section 65 and the bottom shell section 75 and the bolting of these sections in place with the outboard annular ring 61. The steering ring 53 and bearing flange 41 are seated in their respective recess 56 and groove 42 during this sliding movement. The easily removable access top shell section 70 may then be finally bolted to the main shell section 65, thereby completing the assembly and providing a unit ready for coupling to the engine means 15. The debris deflector 19 is connected as shown in FIG. 1.

Preferably, the engine means 15 is oriented in a horizontal position and this facilitated through the use of the cylindrical toothed wedge blocks 80 and 81 shown in FIGS. 9 and on which the engine means is mounted.

Due to the inherent rudder effect of a propeller, a trim tab 85 is provided on the aft end of the outboard housing 37 of the propeller assembly 30, this trim tab 85 being angularly adjustable by bending to cause the compensation identified in the vector diagram of FIG. 12.

The desired boat path is represented by arrow A. The propeller because of its torque urges the boat along a path represented by arrow C. The trim tab 85 is bent to provide a compensating urging of the boat along a path represented by arrow D so that the resultant effect is the desired path A.

From the above it will be recognized that myunit is equally suitable to new construction and conversion. In converting, it is only necessary to remove the rudder system, drive shaft, shaft log and strut bearing, repair holes and by template established the new holes needed for the new unit. The engine is then moved to the desired angular position and horizontally mounted for connection to my unit.

While the invention has been described with reference to certain embodiments, they are to be considered illustrative rather than limiting, and it is intended to cover all further embodiments that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A marine propelling and steering unit adapted to extend through a hole in the bottom of a boat and enabling the placement of inboard engine means at various angles including along or parallel to the longitudinal center line of the boat comprising: an inboard housing having bottom annular attaching means for connection to the boat bottom in sealed condition around said hole and a substantially horizontally extending conduit at its upper portion, a propeller assembly having a hollow steering cylinder extending downwardly through said housing and through said attaching means and having a propeller at its lower end, support means for supporting and substantially vertically rotatably mounting said propeller assembly in said housing, steering means for rotating said propeller assembly in said housing for enabling steering, propeller drive shaft mean rotatably extending through said conduit and through said cylinder for driving said propeller, said bottom annular attaching means including housing adjusting means for enabling the attachment of said housing to the boat bottom at an angle to including parallel to or along the longitudinal center line of the boat, said steering means including steering adjusting means for enabling the adjustable connection of the steering means to the steering cylinder in a manner whereby said steering means may be mounted in a constant position relative to said housing regardless of the angular attitude of the housing with respect to the center line of the boat.

2. A marine propelling and steering unit as defined in claim 1 and wherein said steering means includes steering adjusting means for enabling the adjustable connection of the steering means to the steering cylinder in a manner whereby said steering means may be mounted in a constant position relative to said housing regardless of the angular attitude of the housing with respect to the center line of the boat.

3. A marine propelling and steering unit as defined in claim 1 and wherein said housing has a horizontal slot with vertical ends which form stops and said steering means includes an arm connected to said steering cylinder and extending through said slot for arcuate movement therein between said stops.

4. A marine propelling and steering unit as defined in claim 3 and wherein bearing means are provided for rotatably interconnecting the housing and the steering cylinder, said bearing means including top and bottom horizontal surfaces for preventing vertical movement of the propeller assembly with respect to the housing. 5. A marine propeller and steering unit as defined in claim 4 and wherein said housing includes three shell sections connected together including a main shell section having said conduit in its upper portion and further including a top shell section and a bottom shell section vertically spaced therefrom forming said slot with the stops being formed by the main shell section.

6. A marine propelling and steering unit as defined in claim 5 and wherein said steering adjusting means includes a plurality of vertical key slots formed in the outer periphery of said propeller assembly and arranged for selective keying to said arm in conformance with the angular attitude of the housing.

7. A marine propelling and steering unit adapted to ex tend through a hole in the bottom of a boat and enabling the placement of inboard engine means at various angles including along and parallel to the longitudinal center line of the boat comprising: an inboard housing having three shell sections connected together including a main shell section having a substantially horizontally extending conduit at it upper portion and a substantially vertical inverted U-shaped flange, and a top shell section having an inverted mating U-shaped flange and a bottom shell section vertically spaced from said top shell section forming a slot and having mating flanges with the legs of the flange of the main section, said main shell section and said bottom shell section having complementary peripheral bottom flanges, a portion of each extending at one end beyond their respective vertical flanges and terminating at the other end inwardly of their .respective vertical flanges for interlocking engagement, an outboard annular ring, said ring and said bottom flanges having complementary bolt holes for enabling attachment of said housing at a predetermined angular position in sealed condition around said hole, a propeller assembly having a hollow steering cylinder extending downwardly through said housing and through said annular ring and having a propeller at its lower end, support means including an annular groove formed in said housing below said conduit and a bearing flange on the upper end of said steering cylinder mounted in said groove, said main shell section having a partial annular recess horizontally aligned with said slot, steering means having an internal ring mounted on said cylinder and seated in said recess and an external arm extending through said slot, said cylinder having a plurality of vertical key slots formed in its outer periphery and arranged for selective keying to said ring in conformance with the angular attitude of the housing, propeller drive shaft means rotatably extending through said conduit and through said cylinder for driving said propeller.

8. A marine propelling and steering unit as defined in claim 7 and including a trim tab attached to and extending from said propeller assembly immediately above said propeller, the angle of said trim tab being adjustable to compensate for said propeller torque.

9. A marine propelling and steering unit as defined in claim 7 and including Wedge mounting means for said engine means having mated cylindrical toothed Wedge blocks for enabling vertical adjustment of the engine means to facilitate horizontal mounting thereof.

10. A marine propelling and steering unit as defined in claim 7 and including a debris deflector extending forwardly and upwardly from the lower portion of said propeller assembly, the upper end of said debris deflector being adapted for mounting to the boat.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,165,849 12/1915 Clark 74-548 X 1,546,188 7/1925 Baldwin -34 2,162,058 6/1939 Brush 115-34 2,378,589 6/1945 Slack et a1. 115-34 3,143,995 8/1964 Koppen 115-37 3,266,454 8/1966 Sterling et a1. 115-35 MILTON BUCHLER, Primary Examiner. T. MA] OR, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A MARINE PROPELLING AND STEERING UNIT ADAPTED TO EXTEND THROUGH A HOLE IN THE BOTTOM OF A BOAT AND ENABLING THE PLACEMENT OF INBOARD ENGINE MEANS AT VARIOUS ANGLES INCLUDING ALONG OR PARALLEL TO THE LONGITUDINAL CENTER LINE OF THE BOAT COMPRISING: AN INBOARD HOUSING HAVING BOTTOM ANNULAR ATTACHING MEANS FOR CONNECTION TO THE BOAT BOTTOM IN SEALED CONDITION AROUND SAID HOLE AND A SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING CONDUIT AT ITS UPPER PORTION, A PROPELLER ASSEMBLY HAVING A HOLLOW STEERING CYLINDER EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY THROUGH SAID HOUSING AND THROUGH SAID ATTACHING MEANS AND HAVING A PROPELLER AT ITS LOWER END, SUPPORT MEANS FOR SUPPORTING AND SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICALLY ROTATABLY MOUNTING SAID PROPELLER ASSEMBLY IN SAID HOUSING, STEERING MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID PROPELLER ASSEMBLY IN SAID HOUSING FOR ENABLING STEERING, PROPELLER DRIVE SHAFT MEANS ROTATABLY EXTENDING THROUGH SAID CONDUIT AND THROUGH SAID CYLINDER FOR DRIVING SAID PROPERLLER, SAID BOTTOM ANNULAR ATTACHING MEANS INCLUDING HOUSING ADJUSTING MEANS FOR ENABLING THE ATTACHMENT OF SAID HOUSING TO THE BOAT BOTTOM AT AN ANGLE TO INCLUDING PARALLEL TO OR ALONG THE LONGITUDINAL CENTER LINE OF THE BOAT, SAID STEERING MEANS INCLUDING STEERING ADJUSTING MEANS FOR ENABLING THE ADJUSTABLE CONNECTION OF THE STEERING MEANS TO THE STEERING CYLINDER IN A MANNER WHEREBY SAID STEERING MEANS MAY BE MOUNTED IN A CONSTANT POSITION RELATIVE TO SAID HOUSING REGARDLESS OF THE ANGULAR ATTITUDE OF THE HOUSING WITH RESPECT TO THE CENTER LINE OF THE BOAT. 